Two teams who are fnding their rythm do battle in Memphis. TV: TNT, TV 51 (local) Radio: Sports Radio 610 (local), 560 WHBQ (Due to NBA Restrictions, you may need to log on 30 minutes early) <div align="center">Probable Line-ups:</div> <font color="Red"><div align="center">Rockets <font size="1">Bob Sura, David Wesley, Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, Yao Ming</font></font></div> <font color="Blue"><div align="center">Grizzlies <font size="1">Jason Williams, Shane Battier, James Posey, Pau Gasol, Lorenzen Wright </font></font></div> Position-by-Position: Point Guard: Bobby Sura / Jason Williams Williams is faster and more flashy, but Bobby is on a tear right now, being able to match Parker and Kidd extremely well. Somewhat pivitol, expect an agressive contest between the two. Advantage: Even Shooting Guard: David Wesley / Shane Battier Battier is 6'8", Wesley is 6'1". Though not a potent offensive threat, Battier won't shy away from Wesley's height. Wesley's perimeter shooting should keep him at bay. Expect switches from Battier to cover McGrady -- we better hope that Wes has a big night. Advantage: Even Small Forward: Tracy McGrady / James Posey The Pesky Posey is back, against the Rockets. An athletic freak, and excellent perimeter defender, Posey should be ready for T-mac. But, T-mac has been known to get Posey in foul trouble, expect the same today. McGrady should be able to beat-out Posey offensively, while pulling a few more strings. <font color="red">Advantage: Rockets</font> Power Forward: Juwan Howard / Pau Gasol Juwan has been clutch lately, but Pau is a player who gets the calls, and should provide problems when Juwan is playing defense. Expect the Rockets to have some weak-side help, either from Yao or Wesley, on Pau. <font color="blue">Advantage: Grizzlies</font> Center: Yao Ming / Lorenzen Wright Yao's is going to get mauled this game, but don't be suprised to see touchy fouls be called. Yao can have a good offensive game, if he sticks with it. Wright has his hands full, and defensively, hes got Mount Mutumbo to worry about. <font color="red">Advantage: Rockets </font> <div align="center">KEYS TO THE GAME </div> <ul>Possesion Basketball. Memphis is an atheltic team, we have to counter their speed, and energy with possesion. Dominate the ball in all aspects. Don't let up the intensity, and keep the ball moving.[/list] <ul>REBOUND!! We are 17-3 when we outrebound a team. Interesting stat, eh? Memphis have a lot of fight in them, and Fratello is no stranger to the gritty games. Keep the tempo and rebounds in our favor.[/list] <ul>Yao in foul trouble. As of late, the Rockets have gotten stuck when Yao has been in foul trouble. Though the game may move faster, someone has to be covering Stro and Pau when Yao is out. Keep Yao in, and keep their big men in foul trouble. Stro and Wright can do damage to us if they are able to play 40 minutes.[/list] Prediction: A hard fought game that should be decided on rebounding and clutch defense. Rockets: 97 Grizzlies: 92
As soon as I get home from work I will be glued to the t.v. set, hopefully the rockets can pull this one off tonight.......I'm going to say Rockets 87 Grizzlies 83....go Rockets!!!
Rockets have this game, i guess the prediction will be bout 104-92, t-mac has a projected game of 30 points,6 rebounds, 5 assists
Holy crap, Stro with the Facial on Yao. That might be one of the best facials I have ever seen. http://officegames.com/swift_yao_facial_clip.wmv
LOL. That was one nasty hellacious dunk. I mean really, Yao must be the easiest 7 footer to be dunked on. Nasty. Anyways, at halftime, McGrady and Wesley are basically scoring almost all of Houston's points. Surprisingly, Wesley is having a great scoring night, something that I hope will continue and be consistent in the future. McGrady is getting to the free throw line, which is just what he should be doing. However, everyone else- have not been doing their job. Sura is having way too many turnovers and Yao has not contributed much offensive wise as well as defensive wise. I hope he toughens up after that facial from Swift and bring some points and or rebounds to Houston. We desperately need it now. Grizzlies lead 54-46.
4th Quarter...score is 77-96 wit 1.00 min left. God this is such a horrible and ugly game for us. We were coming to Memphis with a 4 game winning streak beating good teams like Denver, Dallas, and San Antionio. And now what happened? We don't have that kind of play we had when we faced those 3 teams..T-mac was off tonight, Yao only played 24 mins and he also fouled out with 8 points. This game is DISAPOINTTING(jus watched an alley opp break in right before the buzzer). Rockets lose one 98-80
AHHH! How is yao going to improve his game if he only plays 24mins, he seriously needs to stay out of foul trouble. He started out good but then he had to go to the bench. Its all T-Mac right now. Yao has not been in the picture in like a month. Rockets are very lucky to have this record because players like sura and juwon have stepped up but seriously, TMac came to play with Yao but you cant have the Yao TMac combo if Yaos on the bench. As for everyone else they all started well but then things fell apart in the second qtr. Mephis played a great game but I didnt really like the way they went for an alley-oop instead of just running out the clock especially when theres no defense being played against them. One of the rockets should have fouled to not allow that alleyoop.
is anybody else pissed off about how inconsistent the team is, if only more people would step up there were few spurtz of barry here and there but other hten that dissappointing
I think the rockets have been consistent for a couple of games but there will be those nights were things arent going well you need your superstars to keep the team in it. But T-Mac cant do it all. In order for this team to be successful Yao needs to step up. Yaos main problem has been foul trouble and he cant seem to avoid it. Houston really needs to make a trade for a better defensive PF. Ever since Yao has gone Cato-less hes fouled out more times than he did all season last year.
It wasnt a good day for the rockets. But looking on the bright side..the grizzlies played really really well and they deserved to win. They kept yao in foul trouble (which isn't hard to do) and shot damn well. The real bright side is that The wolves, nuggets, and lakers also lost so we didn't fall that low down the ladder. We just need to rebound the next game
john barry was pissing me off to no end tonight. he blew so many wide open shots. juwan howard annoyed me as well. i think we really need donyell marshall. werent there some rumors about the rockets trading for him? anybody know anything about this?
Well I honestly don't see how we get Marshall........but man what an absolutely disgusting dunk on Yao...........Swift basically used his a$$..........I would love to see Swift in a Rockets uni......that's just what we need, an athletic hard nose PF.........isn't he a free agent this summer???
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting THE DREAM:</div><div class="quote_post">Well I honestly don't see how we get Marshall........but man what an absolutely disgusting dunk on Yao...........Swift basically used his a$$..........I would love to see Swift in a Rockets uni......that's just what we need, an athletic hard nose PF.........isn't he a free agent this summer???</div> Stromile Swift will actually be available as a free agent this summer. However, there really isn't any possible way we can get him or Donyell Marshall for that matter. I actually posted a thread a few months ago with a list of all the players that will be available in the offseason. Take a look if you want. Link Both are playing pretty well this season and are demanding larger contracts, something that we can't support with monstrous contracts that we already have such as McGrady, Howard, Taylor, and Yao. Anyways, tough game for the Rockets. The Grizzlies just played a way better game with less turnovers, more rebounds, and more assists. Basically just beating us in every aspect of the game. Like many of you here have said, its very important Yao doesn't get into foul trouble. However, I think he has time to improve. A lot of players with the experience he has also gets into a lot of foul trouble, and considering his size, its also hard not to. So I think you need to give him some time and let him learn how to solve this foul situation.
